A Long Day's Journey into Night is a great tragedy that depicts the fall of something great through the viewing of strong events. This play is about the Tyrone family, a once tightly knit family torn apart by Mary's drug addiction, Jamie, & Edmund's alcoholism, the families stinginess, and the boys' poor attitude towards work and money. As the play wears on so does the parents hope of seeing their children become successful. In this story it seems as if he took character traits from his family members, and made characters out of them. His father was a Broadway actor, his mother was a morphine addict, and his brother never took life seriously. The plays most important characteristic is the way he is unbiased with the characters. No one is any worse or better than another. Because of all the constant fighting, communication is lacking. The males fight over Mary's addiction, but never talk about the situation with her directly, therefore the addiction continues with no positive gain. The past shows up most often in this play. all the problems and past dreams cannot be forgotten, like Mary's dreams of becoming a nun or concert pianist, or Tyrone's high hopes for Jamie that are continually let down time after time. This play leaves us with a feeling of little hope for the future of the family. Sensing that everything will repeat day after day.





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